Soon, City Will Get Nano Science Centre

By Express News Service

Published: 02nd September 2014 06:00 AM

Last Updated: 02nd September 2014 04:08 AM

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  Secretary of the Department of IT & BT Srivatsa Krishna, IT & BT Minister S R Patil and scientist Prof CNR Rao announcing the setting up of the Nano Centre in Bangalore on Monday | NAGESH POLALI

BANGALORE: Karnataka’s flagship nano research institute, the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences, will come up in the city and start functioning in the next couple of months. The centre will also house the ambitious nano park for industries and entrepreneurship.

Formally announcing the setting up of the centre, eminent scientist C N R Rao on Monday said the state government has provided 14 acres for the centre near Nelamangala and all statutory permissions have been sought.

“A Director has been chosen to head the institute, but the proposal awaits approval of the Union government. The Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research has already erected compound walls around the area that belongs to the new centre,” Prof Rao said. 

The centre will receive initial funding of not less than `50 crore from the Union government, he said.

“The centre will start functioning in the next 4-5 months. The nano park will also be housed in the 14 acres of land, which will pave way for entrepreneurship and new industries in the field of nanoscience,” he said.

The decision to locate the nano park along with the centre was taken by the Vision Group for Nanotechnology headed by Prof Rao.

“Individual collaboration is already happening in the field of nano science, but it is not in terms of technological collaboration. Bangalore doesn’t have many industries working in this field,” he said.

Referring to rankings that place India in the top three countries for nano research, Prof Rao advocated targeted funding. “Nano is one area where we have been able to achieve much through targeted funding by supporting institutions and individuals.”

7th Bangalore India Nano in Dec

The Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science and Technology will organise the seventh edition of the Bangalore India Nano from December 4 to 6. The three-day event will feature renowned speakers and showcasing of technology with a focus on advanced materials, energy, devices and sensors and healthcare and medicine.

“There is every reason to believe that nanoscience can make great contributions in areas such as energy. Nano has become one of the major areas of research in the last couple of years. In the area of graphene nanoribbons, there have been 20 papers in the Nature journal alone, with promising findings in device technology and spintronics,” Prof Rao said.

IT, BT, S&T Secretary Srivatsa Krishna said the state government wants to encourage start-ups and entrepreneurs in the nano field. “The commercialised market in nanotechnology will be $3 trillion by 2018 and we want to support industries to take as large a slice of this market,” he said.

‘Won’t Ask PM for Advisor’s Post’

C N R Rao is no longer the Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister. “My term ended with the previous PM’s tenure,” he said. He was the Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister since 2005. “There is no Advisory Council in the new government and no one has been appointed by the PM,” he said. When asked if he would like to be Narendra Modi’s advisor, he said: “The new prime minister has to appoint an advisor. I don’t want to ask.”